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Ein deutsches Requiem, Op 45

Recordings

This recording features St Paul’s Cathedral Choir at the peak of their power, performing a yearning sequence of liturgical works that includes some of the best-loved choral works of all time: Mendelssohn’s ‘Hear my prayer’ (‘O for the wings of a d ...» More

Details

Ye now are sorrowful, howbeit ye shall again behold me, and your heart shall be joyful, and your joy no man taketh from you.

Yea I will comfort you, as one whom his own mother comforteth.

Look upon me. Ye know that for a little time labour and sorrow were mine, but at the last I have found comfort.

Ye now are sorrowful is the fifth movement of Johannes Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem, Op 45. Eric Blom suggested that a better translation of this title would be ‘A Protestant Requiem’ rather than the more usual ‘A German Requiem’, for this is not a liturgical work. It is written in seven sections which distinguishes it from the five-part Roman Catholic Requiem. Brahms (1833–1897) selected the words for this work from Luther’s own translation of the Bible. The composer took an interest in polyphonic vocal music and this influence, coupled with the undoubted use of Handel as a model for his chorus-writing, is probably what makes the Requiem so complex in places. This is perhaps less true of the movement Ye now are sorrowful, where a soprano soloist—sung by a treble here—is accompanied by the chorus.